A MOTHER who was pregnant with her third child when she allowed her Rugby home to be used as a base by county lines drug dealers has escaped being jailed – for the sake of her children.
But one of the dealers using Stacey Grubb’s home has been jailed by a Warwick Crown Court judge – who expressed surprise that a jury has acquitted another alleged dealer.
Grubb, 31, of Morris Close, who admitted allowing premises to be used for the supply of drugs, was sentenced to four months in prison suspended for 12 months.
She was ordered to take part in a rehabilitation activity and made subject to an 8pm-7am curfew for one month.
Corey Campbell, 21, of Rickman Drive, Birmingham, who pleaded guilty on the day of his trial to being concerned in the supply of heroin and crack cocaine, was jailed for 26 months.
They were sentenced a week after another man, Zillion Brook, 21, of Avondale Road, Wolverhampton, with whom Campbell had been due to stand trial, was found not guilty of those charges.
Prosecutor Gary Venturi said that in July 2019 police officers became aware of Campbell coming and going from Grubb’s address, and suspected he was dealing in drugs.
When the under-cover officers approached him when he came out again, Campbell made off, discarding an item as he ran, but was found hiding on the embankment of the nearby River Avon.
Other officers went to Grubb’s address where Brook tried to close the door on them, but they gained access and he and Grubb, who was in the kitchen, were both arrested.
The kitchen table had been set out for the preparation of the drugs being sold by Campbell, with packaging and scales.
Brook had £120 on him and a further £500 in his man bag, and a man bag in the lounge, related to Campbell, had £649 in it.
Despite being found in the kitchen where the drugs had been prepared, Grubb claimed that although she was suspicious, she did not really know what was going on, while Campbell gave largely ‘no comment’ replies.
Rebecca Wade, for Grubb, said: “She is apologetic, and she shows real remorse for her involvement in this.”
Miss Wade said that Grubb, who lost her job at a school as a result of her conviction, has reduced her cannabis intake, ‘but has not stopped altogether,’ and she is assessed as posing a low risk of reoffending.
Judge Anthony Potter told Grubb: “You pleaded guilty to permitting your premises to be used back in July 2019 for the supply of two highly addictive and pernicious class A drugs which bring misery to people in Rugby.
“You pleaded on the basis that you permitted your home to be used on that one day only. Campbell had sent out messages to 42 drug users in the area saying drugs were available, and your role was a valuable one.
“Mr Brook, who was acquitted notwithstanding the evidence against him that he had persuaded you to allow your premises to be used, was in my view an experienced criminal.
“You fell into his thrall and allowed his friend Campbell to come in. It is plain to me you were actively involved.
“People who allow their premises to be used for the supply of not just one, but two class A drugs will always receive a custodial sentence.
“Your children are nine, ten and one, you being pregnant at the time. The impact on them would be so substantial, they having done nothing wrong, it allows me to suspend the sentence.”
Stephen Sweeney, for Campbell, said that at the time he was only 18, ‘vulnerable to a certain extent,’ and on the street – but was now living with his grandmother, had shown a level of remorse, and ‘finds himself on a better path.’
The judge told Campbell: “I have no doubt that you feel rather aggrieved, standing alone in the absence of Mr Brook who, in my judgement surprisingly, was acquitted of the allegation that he was acting in concert with you.
“I have no doubt your involvement was primarily as a result of Mr Brook, but on the 19th of July 2019 you found yourself in Rugby involved in the supply of class A drugs.
“You were taking the risk. Mr Brook was far more criminally experienced and put pressure on you to become involved.
“I know that a year before, in May 2018, you had been in a car with Brook when he was stopped in south Wales with another man, and he pleaded guilty to possessing crack and heroin with intent to supply [for which Brook was jailed for 43 months last year].
“I do not sentence you on the basis you were involved in that, but by July 2019 you could have had no doubt as to the kind of man Zillion Brook was.
“Your role plainly was a role where you were being controlled. Whatever financial gain you stood to make was far from significant – and certainly far less than Mr Brook.
“But I am afraid the message has to go out to other young people like you that if you get involved in the supply of not only one, but two class A drugs, then custody is inevitable.”
